I like the Minoura handlebar bottle mount because it's a center mount design. It straddles the stem.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fd7db4438b.jpg
I like using a Profile bottle cage and a PowerAde bottle. I can push a long stiff straw or a length of tubing through the valve of the PowerAde bottle and drink from that whilst riding.

Profile cage and PowerAde bottle minus the straw.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b0b1405de8.jpg

It's a good idea to go someplace like an empty school parking lot on an evening or weekend or maybe during the day during this Covid-19 lockdown, and practice riding with just one hand. It's great skill to have an is need for using hand signals. As another poster mentioned, moving the hand on the handlebar towards the stem greatly reduces the tendency to swerve when riding with one hand.

I'd practice reaching for the bottle, then when comfortable with that, pulling it out of the cage and then reinserting it. Once comfortable with that I'd practice drinking from the bottle.

Cheers

Leave the valve open during ride?
 

I can remove the water bottle and drink while riding with one hand on the top bar of drop handlebars, but what I can't do is open the valve with one hand. So I generally stop to drink. Do you all leave the valve open during your rides? I don't do that because I always thought water could splash out, dust and grime could get in, and I'd get a bit of grit in with my water. Maybe I should try leaving valve open if it's not problematic...

I recommend a nice smooth whiskey.


Wut?

You're probably grabbing your water bottle upside down. If you are riding in the drops try grabbing your water bottle so that your thumb is near the bottom of the bottle. That will invert the bottle so that you can squirt it into your mouth rather than having to lean back.

You guys are way over complicating things

Part of the joy of riding with a group is the teamwork
Just ask another rider in the group to ride alongside you and squirt their water into your mouth so you can keep both hands on the bars!
Safety first!

+1 on Camelbaks for novice cyclists. It will also encourage you to sip more and stay hydrated better going into summer. Do not worry about what others think. When it gets hot, I use bottles and a Camelbak.

All the waterbottles I've used have a ring with a lip as the "valve". Grab the lip with your teeth and pull. Pretty simple. I close the bottle after so as not to have rust and corrosion causing electrolyte spilling over the bike.

(I said "all the bottles". Over the years I seen a few with caps on short plastic harnesses that you could pull off with your teeth but took a hand to replace. I just don't purchase those bottles,)

Ben

This puts more weight on the hands & will make it harder to drink from a bottle.

Doesn't sound like a great position for a beginning cyclist.

Just to add to your troubles, consider drinking with the front brake hand. If something happens, say an aardvark suddenly dashes out in front of you, your frantic grab on the brakes won't result in a face plant.
Others have suggested practicing with a liquid more precious than water. I have seen pictures of Tour de France riders drinking champagne and still wines.
Good luck

I had a concussion and cannot balance so I have to stop to take a drink. Just try not to do it in the middle of a 16% grade.

I loop around and go back downhill on hills I stop on, then turn around again and go on up the hill .. Bike tours not group training rides.

When you get the drinking out of a bottle in a group thing mastered you can start learning how to pee off the bike while a team mate pushes you ;)

If sitting in a forward TT position do not even consider riding in a group.

If unable to perform basic tasks such as taking a drink do not even consider riding in a group.

TT is a solo activity. Group riding is group riding.

He's riding in the drops not on aero bars...... I think he should be OK

Same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

This is good advice. There are cages that let you pull the bottle out easier from the side. I recently installed Cat Eye cages that really grip and a Zefal frame pump under the top tube. If you weren’t thirsty before getting the bottle out, you are by the time you get the water.

John

When I try to get my riding partners to do this for me, they always miss my mouth, and hit me between the eyes!

I prefer to stop and then take a drink....or use a Camelback hydration pack....I also carry a theromoss with hot tea on every ride, even on hot summer days so it's impossible to drink without stopping., even if I am drinking plain water I still prefer to stop.

In colder weather I've been known to throw a can of ipa into my back jersey pocket. best. lunch. ever.

If it’s a pop up valve, use your teeth to pull it up. If it’s a rotating valve, like on a CamelBak Podium bottle, leave the valve open.

+1. As noted above, Podium bottles are one exception. But there is really no need to “lock” them while riding. I only lock them when they are on their sides, like when in the tent with me. Don’t want to roll over on one while sleeping.

Seriously, when I was Cat 5, my team did a clinic where we rode around in a parking lot practicing how to take a bottle out of the cage, drink, and put it back without looking or wobbling. Then we progressed to taking food out of a jersey pocket, then how to take off and put on a windvest and armwarmers. All good skills to learn and practice.

Yup, I understand the challenge. Haven't had that problem personally but I've seen it in family and patients who've had concussions. That's why I urge friends who've fallen from their bikes and hit their heads to be wary of long term effects.

And another good reason to try a Camelbak or bottle with sipping straw. There are several options for mounting water bottles where a drinking straw can reach.

I always leave my valves open, and never have any issue with anything getting in. The water bottles I use have fairly enclosed orifices and it would have to be quite the dust storm for anything to get in.

I have no trouble retrieving a water bottle and getting a drink while riding, but I still nearly always find myself coasting while actually drinking. Sometimes I make myself keep pedaling, but it doesn't come naturally. For whatever reason, pausing the pedaling while drinking is my instinct, though that wouldn't go over too well in a group ride if we were pacelining.

To the OP: it will help a lot if you can get used to grabbing your bottle and putting it back without looking at it. I just reach down and by muscle memory I can grab it. Sometimes I'll take a quick glance down to orient myself before putting it back after drinking, but still put it back while not watching it, since I prefer to keep my eyes on the road. One little problem with my approach is I find it much easier to retrieve and use my front water bottle than my rear bottle (the one mounted to the seat tube), so usually when the first bottle is empty I'll go through this awkward exchange where I swap the two bottles so I'm always drinking from the one mounted to the downtube. I'd second what the others have said and just practice on your own retrieving and putting your bottle back while riding, pausing pedaling while doing so if you need to. Once you've got that down if your valves are left open you can just squirt some water in your mouth. I usually have an inch or so of water left in my bottles when they're "empty" according to my usual practice, because I prefer to squirt water into my mouth rather than suck water through the valve, because I don't have to tilt my head to sky to do it. If I still need water and both bottles are down to that last inch I'll tilt my head and drain it.

There's always a video for that: